Dhonielle Clayton is COO of We Need Diverse Books. She is the co-author of the Tiny Pretty Things series and New York Times bestseller The Belles and its sequel The Everlasting Rose. She grew up in the Washington, DC suburbs on the Maryland side and spent most of her time under her grandmother's table with a stack of books. A former teacher and middle school librarian, Dhonielle is co-founder of CAKE Literary, a creative development company whipping up decidedly diverse books for a wide array of readers. She's got a serious travel bug and loves spending time outside of the USA, but makes her home in New York City, where she can most likely be found hunting for the best slice of pizza.